Understand
by AConstanceC
Summary: One-shot set after the team find out about Skye's powers (2x12)- What was Fitz thinking after the episode and what did he do?


**For my friend Sophia who practically begged me for this :)  
** **No sadly I don't own anything but any mistakes you may see (but you know this already so...)  
I don't really like this, I don't know what it is but I feel it's not going to get any better so may as well publish it. Enjoy - if you can ;)**

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Fitz didn't understand, and not understanding frustrated him. He hated not understanding. This time though it wasn't because of the brain damage – it was because everything he knew to be right and good was wrong.

She was just...different now.

Why should she be treated like something else, like a monster, when it wasn't her fault? None of it was. He was different too, should he be called a monster as well? Was she something to be studied and dissected? To be locked away, never to be spoken of. Just like what Hydra did under the cover of all their lies and invisibility. When was what the enemy doing ever good? Why after **everything** should they follow in their footsteps? At the moment there was no difference between S.H.I.E.L.D and Hydra. When did the lines become so blurred? When had they stopped protecting people and started fearing them? That's one of the things he didn't understand. They were supposed to be the good guys, why are they hurting one of their own for no reason?

But the one thing he knew for sure, the one thing he would hold onto and never let go of was that he **wasn't** a monster, and that meant that neither was she. The others were selfish or...scared. They didn't _understand_ but he did. He understood her, understood what it was like to feel...feel useless; no, feel abandoned. Simmons abandoned him once but _all_ of them had left her; she was alone again, just like she was when she was a child, and that changes a person. He promised, vowed to be there for her no matter what the others had said or would say.

Another thing he didn't understand was that if it was one of them that had changed in that temple she would be there for them, she would fight for them and never back down. Is this the thanks she gets? For leaving her life behind, for having S.H.I.E.L.D meddle in her life since she was just an innocent baby. Where was the honour and justice in that? Fitz felt sick just thinking about what they were doing.

Looking at her face after she had heard what Mack had said made him even angrier at them all. They were supposed to be a team! A family. Well that wasn't true now was it? First Simmons left, then came back, changed, and now this? The only person who he could truly trust was Coulson, and maybe May. Just like him he would do anything for Skye, she was like a daughter to him. And Fitz, he was her brother – blood didn't define family, it shouldn't have to.

That first night he sat with her as she cried (and by extension shook the room). But he wasn't afraid – not of her or her powers. He just wanted to be there for her like she was for him. Every sob not only broke something next to them but also broke a small piece of his heart. She was a little sister to him and he couldn't bear to see her hurt or upset. That's why they hid this thing in the first place; he didn't want this to happen, he didn't want her to have to deal with this alone.

He spent as much time with her as he could. He didn't really have that much work to do and he couldn't stand being near Simmons at the moment. After coming back from her undercover work at Hydra she was different, and he didn't know whether or not he liked it. She was colder now, more distant, only caring about the science. But she was his friend; they had to stick together right? The only time he and Skye were really apart was at night when he left to go sleep in his own bed. He hated leaving but she felt so bad already and he didn't dare disagree with her out of fear of making her more upset than she already was. She was good at hiding it but he could see; she was shattering from the inside out.

Even with her falling apart though, in a way she was healing him. It was a bit like therapy, sitting and talking to her for the majority of the day. His speech was getting better, thought processes faster (still not what they used to be but definitely better than what they have been) and he was happier.

Throughout the long days Fitz kept running the day he found out through his head. Admittedly he was afraid the first time he confronted her – he even ran away – something which now ashamed him. But he came back. Back then he hadn't known what to expect, he knew she had powers he just didn't know what they were (or he just didn't want to admit it to himself). When that light exploded he just wasn't expecting it. After running out the room and down the hall Fitz had finally taken a breather and knew what he had to do. Who knew what Simmons would do if she found out about Skye, after what she had said about Raina he didn't know her anymore. As Fitz had said; Hydra had changed her.

Surprisingly swapping Skye's blood samples with her old ones wasn't actually that difficult. He expected it to be harder but when he went back to check on Skye he was suddenly grateful for the quick and easy task. From just inside the door he could see her panicking so jumped in quickly to help her out, coming up with some stupid story about how it was his fault she had cut her hand. Looking at her after they left he saw just how vulnerable she was, and that was the moment he knew for sure that he had done the right thing. When she hugged him and said that something was wrong with her he almost cried, but he held it together long enough so she wouldn't have to see it.

Looking back on it now he thought he could have handled it better, made it easier for her, but there was nothing to be done now except protect her. For as long as she needed it.

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